Yeah, I'd be interested in learning about the development of the two.

I've never come across anyone thinking of it as rude or inconvenient, it's just part of the culture, I guess?

I'm not certain on how they developed, too, but there are a lot of similarities, yeah, especially in British derivatives. NZSL and ASL (as in Australian) are really similar, and British Sign Language is only another step away. American Sign Language is pretty different in that it uses primarily finger-signs, if I'm not mistaken - but I can still get the gist of what people are saying, which is pretty interesting.

There are definitely "loud talkers" in sign languages, and often it's not just that their signs are larger and more expressive, but they'll make more noise as they do it.

Watching him perform this is amazing. I came across it a few weeks ago, and the lines "When you peel layers of clothing from his skin / Do not act as though you are changing dressings on a trauma patient / Even though it's highly likely that you are" just oh man hits home so hard.

I think he's wrong when he talks about the songs not giving an insight into Laura's life (he says "the life she's leading now", which I also take issue with - the album deals with a lot of stuff she's - and other trans people - have been dealing with all their lives, not just after coming out). To me and to so many others I know, they hit home real hard. So many people connect with them. They don't give insight to him, I'd assume because they weren't meant to.

When he talks about the tracks he doesn't like, and how they're obviously very personal to Laura and affect her deeply, it sort of highlights my views on the album - sure, it's been created and released for general consumption, but in no way was it made for cisgender people. It's the same reason he talks about not seeing or feeling any "legitimate overpowering emotions" on the album - I certainly do, and I know others who do. It's not meant to explain anything, or give any political or social insight, like he talks about - it's not meant to provide solutions to any issues. It's an output of emotion and solidarity, in a really similar way to her coming out. When she came out all of a sudden so many of us had this new role model, this person of relative fame we could look up to and follow and connect with - something pretty important in the punk scene, I think. The album does a similar thing - he's right in that it confirms already held ideas, but he's wrong with the audience. It's not for LGBTQ supporters to nod their heads along to, it's for trans folk to connect with, to feel and know that someone understands, to see Laura dealing with so much shit, with cisgenderist media doing their usual thing and asking extremely personal questions, delving into stuff she doesn't necessarily want to share. But she does share a lot, and it's inspirational to see her doing so well - on a personal level, seeing another musician do this is amazing. Seeing her wife stick with her is amazing. I connect with both the album and her a lot, and I think that's what makes me love the album so much - and I think that's the point.

I've always been a bit uncomfortable with formalist analysis of any form of art, too - I can see the importance of analysing formalist elements, but placing these above conceptual or contextual things seems a bit redundant.

Yeah, I was absolutely fascinated by the whole thing. Vultures are sort of one of those things I haven't thought about in years and years - they're not really prevalent at all (at least where I am). As soon as I opened up the article and saw the pictures I was struck by their odd beauty. It's sad that something so integral - and mostly not recognised for their importance - is dying out in such a way.

As for the painkiller, it's interesting that it only affects vultures - everything else that feeds off those cattle is fine. Fascinating yet sad sort of coincidence that their main food source has been unintentionally poisoned with something that affects only them.

They had an exhibition a few years back on the Art of Video Games. Nothing new, I think.

(I wrote a thing about it a while back)

I'm finding this conversation very interesting, particularly because my experiences have been pretty different to emisaurs.

For me, and most other trans*folk I know, gender identity is a huge deal. I'm starting to identify myself as trans* a lot more because I see it less as a medical condition (though it is, for sure) and more a part of who I am. It's something that I'm - proud isn't the right word, but it's a similar sort of feeling - of. It shapes so many of my experiences, the good ones far outweighing the bad.

I think the other huge impact on this for me is my gender identity itself and that I don't feel entirely female. I feel trans* and nonbinary is part of my gender identity and that most of the time I can't introduce myself as a woman (or a man, for that matter).

I dunno. This was going somewhere when I started but I'm all over the place today. I think, speaking entirely personally here, trans* as an identity has formed a better community for me than trans* as a medical condition.

Ah, awesome! I think I might stick with OpenShift for now, seeing as I've got it all sorted and haven't had any problems yet. I'm not expecting huge amounts of traffic (well, not for a while, anyway) so it should do.

Ooh, this is cool! Is ghost hosting now? I might have to look into it (I'm hosted on RHCloud at the moment, which isn't costing anything, but I'm willing to bet Ghost's hosting service is pretty nice). Is this the default theme? I can't quite tell.

Ah, awesome, thanks so much! It always makes my week when I hear people have enjoyed it.

The Less than Zero comparison makes me especially happy - it's one of my favourite books. I actually read it a couple of months after writing Against the Current, which is interesting.

Thanks!

This is my exact issue with this article, thank you. I was having trouble expressing it myself, as exhausted as I am, and I'm glad to see people agreeing.

Having compassion and love for something 'despite' some part of who they are as a person that you see as wrong or flawed is not really the kind of compassion and love I personally want, and I'd imagine a lot of people agree. My sexuality and gender identity, while not necessarily defining me as a person, is integral to who I am. It is not something that I choose nor can I change it. By ignoring something so important to me, you ignore who I am.

I'd love to join in.

Great read. I went looking on Academia.edu to see if anyone had written anything about Max Headroom. Nothing, but there's one independent researcher who goes by that name. They're German and have one paper on improvising jazz. Funny.

There is some stuff on JSTOR, though.

I'm rather distressed at the White House's statement. Something that affects such a large and close-knit community, one that I've always found to be particularly patriotic (and from what I can tell, the NZ Deaf community is a fraction of those in SA) is a bit more than just a regrettable "distraction". These people are relying on this man, and as the article rightly pointed out, they have no real way to show dissatisfaction there in the moment. Calling it a "distraction" and putting it on the same level as Obama taking selfies is ridiculous and extremely marginalising.

What's most likely is that he knows some, enough to get by on a casual basis, and somehow someone along the line fucked up majorly and got him this gig. Incredibly distressing, as someone coming from a Deaf background.

Yes! And the illustrations inside are beautiful.

You'll have to excuse my terrible-quality photos, I don't have access to a better camera over summer :c

I just noticed Future Shock in the last picture, and it occurred to me that that's the kind of book I think a lot of Hubski would enjoy. Outdated in the best way possible (in that it's still pretty relevant). Worth picking up if you can find a copy.

If you haven't seen his commencement speech, you should watch that, too. Absolutely great.

Ah, awesome, thanks! Just quickly checked out Against Me! and they're wonderful. Cheers!

Edit: Spent the last half hour listening to and reading about Against Me! and Laura Jane. Thank you so much for this.

Oh, yeah, Elton John's definitely on the list already. Thanks, though!

I remember catching it on C4 late on night, with the video of her performing it (which I've never been able to find) and I've never been able to forget it.

Must remember to pick her new album (of kid's songs, but still) sometime.

Whoa, how did I not know that? Wow! Thanks!

Incidentally, she does one of the best covers ever.

Ah, yes, another one I totally forgot. Cheers!

I had some of these, but more I totally missed! Didn't realise Baths was LGBTQ, that's awesome. And Frank Ocean was a huge oversight on my behalf. Cheers!

Damn, I didn't see those paintings. Those are really awesome, TNG!

I do a similar thing to you, really. Used to be when I needed to deal with something I'd go write, usually a short story or some poetry or something. Recently it's been almost exclusively music, though - I'm finding bashing out some really angry piano stuff a la Amanda Palmer or The MurderChord really helps.

I know, very odd! I don't doubt that you did! PMing you now.

I love some more! For some reason the last set never turned up, oddly enough, but oh well!